I have dedicated this web site to my parents, Donald & Eda Faye (Thomasson) McKinney, who are buried at the Fort Riley Military Cemetery, Kansas. The main emphasis of this site will be to honor them and their ancestors, maintaining their legacies with stories & narratives, thus keeping their memories alive in our hearts. I am especially grateful to all my relatives, close & distant, who have, through the years, contributed to my knowledge of our family heritage.
Our parents met & married while both were stationed with the military at Fort Riley,
Kansas during World War II. Dad was a cowboy from Wyoming who had joined the U.S.
Horse Cavalry & mother was a small town Arkansas girl who joined the WAACS.

I have been interested in genealogy & the research of my own personal family history for many years. I also enjoy locating & visiting ancestral home sites & cemeteries throughout various areas of our country.

Sometimes, I feel compelled to write and/or publish articles concerning our ancestors who endured the hardships and turmoil of many years ago. I don't pretend to be a creative writer who garnishes his material with flowery fiction. I am not a poet, philosopher or an intellectual who creates inspirational material promoting spiritual growth to help find one's "Inner Self". I will leave that to the many talented individuals who are so gifted. I am also not a spinner of mythical "Tall Tales" or mystical fantasy land "Fairy Tales"--I merely chronicle the lives of my ancestors based on legitimate facts & traditions relating to them.

I think everyone should try to "get to know" their ancestors. Even though they have long since passed away, they can still be very inspirational. Most of our ancestors were good, decent people but perhaps far from perfect. Hopefully we can learn from them & try to appreciate their sacrifices & struggles which can help us all gain a better understanding of our own virtues & shortcomings as we do our part to help improve society for the future. Not caring about our heritage is like not caring about ourselves.

Most of our ancestors came to America before the Revolutionary War from the BRITISH ISLES:ENGLAND,
WALES,
IRELAND

,
SCOTLAND (Click on links above for a brief generalized overview of ancient ancestral roots. After the withdrawal of the ROMAN EMPIRE during the 5th Century A.D., the British Isles gradually, through the next few centuries, became another "melting pot" of various CELTIC, TEUTONIC, SCANDANAVIAN & NORMAN warrior tribes who invaded/settled the area during those medieval times.)

McKINNEY: Donald McKinney Sr's paternal grandfather,
EDWARD COFFIN McKINNEY, settled in
Fremont County, Wyoming abt 1885 from Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii, where he was born. Sometime, during the 1890's, after his marriage to
LENORA SARAH "Nora" GAYLOR, he changed the family name from McKENNEY to McKINNEY, probably to be consistent with the spelling used by local record keepers after his arrival in Wyoming. (See GAYLOR family below)Ed & wife Nora operated various horse & cattle ranches in Fremont County, Wyoming. Ed's brother & descendants, who settled in neighboring Utah, retained the McKenney spelling.
Edward McKinney's father,
ANDREW JACKSON McKENNEY, SR, was born in Stetson, Maine, however, shortly before the Civil War, while still a teenager, boarded a ship which sailed to the opposite ocean, ending up in Oahu, Hawaii. While on Oahu, Andrew married widow LOUISA GRACE (RICHARDS) ROWAN, originally of Cornwall, England.

Previous generations of
our
McKINNEY/McKENNEY family were settlers of Scarborough, Cumberland County, Maine.
Our earliest known ancestor was
JOHN MACKENNY,an immigrant from SCOTLAND who was transported to Boston, Massachusetts in 1652 after he & other Scots were captured by Oliver Cromwell's English forces during the civil wars of that era. After serving his 7 year indenture in the Boston & surrounding area, he moved to Scarborough, Maine which was then a province of Massachusetts colony.
There is some speculation from several researchers & descendants that our ancestor, John Mackenny of Scarborough, Maine was associated with or his surname evolved from certain Clans of Scotland. MacKENZIE, MacKINNON (of Skye), MacKEAN/MacIAN (of Clan Donald/MacDonald) etc. I no longer lean toward MacKENZIE (pronounced with silent Z during 1600's). I have seen no conclusive evidence to support any theories of his association with a particular clan or any specific area in Scotland where he resided. Any "legitimate" information will be greatly appreciated.

THOMASSON: Eda Faye's paternal grandparents,
HORACE GORDON & ADA (OWEN) THOMASSON settled in
Logan County, Arkansas about 1903 from Lincoln County, Arkansas. Horace was an educator/superintendent of schools in that area of Arkansas for many years. He was the son of
WILLIAM LAFAYETTE & EVELINE ELIZABETH (FISH) THOMASSON, prominent farmers of Lincoln County, Arkansas. While still residing in Lincoln County, Horace married ADA OWEN the daughter of
JOHN MALONE & MARY BARBARA (GRUMBLES) OWEN, a neighboring farm family. (See OWEN family below)
Earlier generations of the
THOMASSON family settled in Arkansas during the
1850's from York County, SC with origins in Virginia. Our immigrant ancestor,
THOMAS THOMASSON, arrived in VIRGINIA in 1677 from
London, ENGLAND. Thomas's parents were
GEORGE & CATHARINE (HUTTON) THOMASON, of LONDON, ENGLAND, who were close friends of poet John Milton. The father George was a book publisher in London, well known in literary circles as the collector of the Civil War Tracts. George is also believed to have been born about 1602 in SUDLOW, CHESHIRE, ENGLAND & was the son of George Thomason Sr, a farmer from that area of northwest England. The Cheshire area of England is just northeast of Wales, not far from southern Scotland.
There is some speculation from some researchers & descendants that the ancient ancestors of our Thomason family of Cheshire, England (later London) originated in SCOTLAND & were associated with CLAN MacFARLANE. Some Thomason's originated from Scotland & were associated with that clan, however, I have seen no real evidence to support the theory that the Thomason families of 16th Century Cheshire were connected to those Scottish groups. Any "legitimate" information will be greatly appreciated.

OWEN:Settled in Lincoln
County, ARKANSAS 1850's from Tippah County, MISSISSIPPI. Earlier generations of the
OWEN family settled in
Mississippi 1840's from Morgan County, ALABAMA; with origins in Fairfield County, SOUTH CAROLINA.
(Country of Origin: WALES-Settled VIRGINIA 1600's) Our other ancestral families connected to this Owen family & countries of origin: ELLIOTT(IRELAND "Scots-Irish"-Settled VIRGINIA 1700's; Later NORTH CAROLINA)GRUMBLES (Middlesex ENGLAND-Settled MARYLAND/DELAWARE early 1700's; Later SOUTH CAROLINA, ALABAMA) KENDALL (Lancashire ENGLAND-Settled SOUTH CAROLINA around 1800)COOK (ENGLAND-Settled VIRGINIA 1600's; Later GEORGIA) HENDRY (Isle of Arran SCOTLAND-Settled NORTH CAROLINA mid 1700's; Later GEORGIA)

JONES: Eda Faye's maternal grandparents, DR WILLIAM ENOCH & ANNIE PHOEBE (EAST) JONES arrived in Sebastian
County, Arkansas in 1870 when they were infants with their respective parents. Dr Jones' parents,
ENOCH MARION & MARIAH ELIZABETH (YEATES) JONES, left Decatur County, TN during the Civil War & settled in
Newton County,
Arkansas, where he was born. William E. Jones left the family farm to receive his education, later becoming a prominent physician/surgeon in Little Rock. He had married Annie East, daughter of
Rev MARTIN ALONZO & ELIZABETH HARRIET (JONES) EAST, a neighboring farm family. Rev East was also an ordained Methodist minister. (See EAST family below)
Earlier generations of the
JONES family had
settled in Franklin County TENNESSEE from GEORGIA with origins in 96 District SOUTH CAROLINA. (Country of Origin: ENGLAND or WALES-Settled SOUTH CAROLINA 1700's) Our other ancestral familes connected to this Jones family & countries of origin: HARDCASTLE (ENGLAND-Settled VIRGINIA 1600's; Later NORTH CAROLINA) WILKINSON (ENGLAND-Settled VIRGINIA 1600's; Later NORTH CAROLINA) (Note: Unproven family tradition of some CHEROKEE ancestry, ??????, with Hardcastle/Wilkinson lines)
YEATES/YATES (BRITISH ISLES-Settled NORTH CAROLINA 1600's) WILLIAMS (BRITISH ISLES-Settled VIRGINIA 1600's; Later NORTH CAROLINA)DELANEY (IRELAND with possible? "French Huguenot" origins-Settled PENNSYLVANIA & VIRGINIA 1700's; Later TENNESSEE) SHERRILL (Devon ENGLAND-Settled NEW YORK 1600's; Later NORTH CAROLINA & TENNESSEE) (Note: Unproven family tradition of some CHEROKEE ancestry, ??????, with Delaney/Sherrill lines)

EAST:Settled in Sebastian
County, ARKANSAS in 1870 from Independence Co
Arkansas, arriving in Arkansas during the 1840's from Madison County, Illinois. Earlier generations of the
EAST family settled in Illinois from Robertson Co TN & prior to that Oglethorpe Co GA, with origins in Henry County, VA. (Country of Origin: Benington, Lincolnshire ENGLAND-Settled VIRGINIA 1600's)Our other ancestral families connected to this East family & countries of origin: EDWARDS (Glanmorganshire WALES-Settled VIRGINIA 1600's)CASON (Cambridge or Hertfordshire ENGLAND-Settled VIRGINIA 1600's; Later NORTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA)SMITH (BRITISH ISLES)
JONES-another line (Probably WALES-Settled PENNSYLVANIA 1600's/1700's; Later TENNESSEE) HOWARD (BRITISH ISLES)RUTHERFORD (Probably Roxburgh County SCOTLAND-Settled VIRGINIA early 1600's; Later TENNESSEE)MARSHALL (BRITISH ISLES)